A study of the plant folk nomenclature of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan Province, China, and the implications for protecting biodiversity

Abstract

Background Folk plant nomenclature is a part of knowledge of indigenous people often used to distinguish plant species. This study aimed to document the folk botanical nomenclature of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan Province, which has not been systematically investigated to date. The results of this study will assist in conserving biodiversity and the language of the Yi people and will promote the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge. Methods An ethnobotanical survey of plants used by the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan Province, was conducted from September 2019 to August 2021. Semi-structured interviews and key informant interviews were conducted to collect and document ethnobotanical information, which was then used to analyse the folk botanical nomenclature of the Yi people. In addition, the folk names of plants used by the Xiaoliangshan Yi community were compared with those of the Yi people living in the Daliangshan, where the environment is considerably different. Results In this study, 266 informants were interviewed, and the names of 228 indigenous plants were extracted from 3088 use reports. The nomenclature used by the local Yi people is based on plant characteristics, plant habitat, plant use, and the local culture. By comparing the folk plant names of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan with those of the Yi people in Daliangshan, we found that the plant names of the two places have some similarities and also with their own unique characters. The important folk plant names of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan usually have a monosyllable non-binomial structure or have "Image missing" and "divine attributes" in their names. Conclusions The Yi people in Xiaoliangshan have a rich and diverse knowledge of plant naming determined by cultural, and environmental factors. The botanical nomenclature of the Yi people has distinct rules and characteristics, and the plant naming directly includes important plants that they believe to be used and protected, which is of great significance to the protection of biodiversity.

The relationship between Northern Khmer people and the forest: A study through ethnobotanical knowledge and vocabulary maintenance

“…It might be said that plant names in the Northern Khmer language are a repository of knowledge crucial for people as a key to retrieving what they have learned about the plants in the Takaw forest, and as such they play a significant role in the knowledge transmission. This finding agrees with those of Aparicio et al (2021) and Addi et al (2022), who noted that the continued use of plants and language impacted the preservation of plant names. Thus, Northern Khmer plant names, as presented in this study, will continue to be maintained as long as its speakers continue to speak their language and rely on information associated with such names in their daily life.…”

Traditional ecological knowledge of bamboo in the Dulong community of northwestern Yunnan, China

“…Folk taxonomy can make it easier for local people to participate in biodiversity conservation, compensate for the insufficiency of traditional classification work, and promote the rapid assessment of species diversity in local areas (Addi et al, 2022). Second, folk taxonomy helps conserve biodiversity in local communities (Wang et al, 2019).…”